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Playing Catch Up

The past two weeks have been somewhat busy and we have company coming multiple times over the next few weeks and so I have had to at least try and get my house in somewhat of an order. This is where I mention that living in a three story house is often times fantastic because no one really ever goes upstairs;)Last weekend was our anniversary. Tony had to work all day Saturday. I was able to get a bunch of errands done and the best pedicure ever. Remember this post about how I love me a Walmart pedicure? Well...they closed. Cue tears. Then I stumbled upon the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Pedicures. It was a little pricier than usual but they put you in leather recliner and give you mixed drink while they give you your massage. And I will never be the same. That night we ended up getting a hotel and grabbing dinner at a local spot that is somewhat famous for their steaks and their wine cellar. It is ( I believe, but don't quote me) the 5th largest in the country. They did a special on the Travel Channel and apparently there are people who legitimately fly into Raleigh, eat at the Angus Barn and then fly back out. I mean....it's good and all, but. It ended up being their 54th anniversary and so they gave us a bottle of wine signed by their owner. They gave away over 500 signed bottles. One of the reasons they are a mainstay. Impeccable details. They also gave us a free appetizer because they seated us for our reservation a whole ten minutes late. as if I had actually noticed. and another show of customer service is that they give you your own personal pound cake, decorated, whenever you are there for a special event such as your birthday, graduation or anniversaryWe got back to our hotel and they had surprised us with strawberries and chocolate in our room and Tony had a beautiful arrangement of sunflowers waiting.

This past week flew by and we were anxiously awaiting our trip to OBX to see Tony's family. and then Arthur decided to be rude and ruin our plans. With Tony having Thursday off, we still wanted to go at least somewhere. After throwing a few different scenarios around we decided on one of usual go tos, Richmond. It is an easy two hour drive. and in no time, we were off. We used our favorite app, Hotel Tonight to score a cheap room last minute. If you have never used it, I cannot say enough good things about it! We have used it in NYC, DC, Miami to name a few. And your first stay you get $25 off with a code. and then anyone you invite that uses your code gets $25 off their next stay. The only kicker is that you cannot plan your stay in advance. This is last minute and you can only purchase the day of. So this works more for last minute escapes! (if you want to sign up, you can use my code mbaldassari1 or if you have friends who use it and want to give them credit, have them invite you and use their code, but whatever you do, don't let free money go to waste!)We had a great time eating our way through Richmond and doing basically nothing. Pretty fantastic and we had the pool mainly to ourselves and we took full advantage. I never tire of walking through the neighborhoods of Row Homes. Le Sigh. The only downside was that we, once again, missed the fireworks. How does this happen to me every year. We went to a roof top bar and anxiously awaited them and then....the trees forbid me to enjoy them.

and then, to make matters even worse, we got stuck in the firework traffic for over 45 minutes. I was bitter and cursing at all the cars around us. Tony made it slightly better by taking a side trip to Friendly's for late night sundaes. We headed back Saturday and were met with over 20 police cars(FBI & SWAT) in our neighborhood. And that is a story for tomorrow. What did you guys do for your 4th? Anything big? Or did you lay low?Linking up with Meghan, Biana, Kimberlee and Leeann

Too funny, we were at the Angus Barn on the same night! We were upstairs at the bar, for some reason I don't feel as bad splitting a dinner up there but I do in the main dining room. I also love free wine night! We hit it on the right day 2 years ago as well and I'm always happy to get free booze.

I haven't been to Richmond in FOREVER. I have to go based off of your pictures. Also, I have never been to Angus Barn. After your recap... definitely taking David there for his 30th! Thanks for the link up. And I'm now heading off to read about the FBI/SWAT. xo